CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive

11 December 2007

Product News

Magma Introduces Smart Sampling Option to Knights YieldManager - Automates Inline Wafer Inspection Review Sampling to Better Utilize Defect Review Tools

Magma® Design Automation Inc . introduced Knights Smart SamplingT, an option to Magma's Knights YieldManager® yield management software, which automates inline wafer inspection review sampling for the defect-review tools used in semiconductor manufacturing. With this new YieldManager option, fab engineers are better able to select the defect-review tool that will accurately detect potential yield-killing defects, dramatically reducing manufacturing cycle time, accelerating yield ramp and improving time to market.

"Misjudging the severity of defect types can cause a variety of killer defects to go undetected," said Ankush Oberai, vice president of Magma's Fab Analysis Business Unit. "In addition, if the wrong defect is reviewed with the wrong tool, the defect will be misclassified, thus skewing the defect classification data. These errors can decrease yield and lengthen time to market. Smart Sampling reduces the possibility of these errors occurring by utilizing both a company's manufacturing data and the most accurate user knowledge to automatically determine which tool should be used to review and classify defect types on a particular chip. This, in turn, improves overall utilization of the fab's review tools, which are very costly to operate."

The defect data used to build Smart Sampling's defect sampling parameters is based upon defect size, location, layer, severity and type. The tool supports defect grouping, which enables more efficient and more accurate defect classification. Users can configure specific groups of defects based on any property or combination of properties. This enables the system to isolate sets of defects based on, among other factors, classification or set of classifications and position on the wafer or within the die. Once these sampling parameters are created, they are programmed into both the review tools and the Knights YieldManager database for future defect review and analysis.

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